UW HUBRES, thanks for making me look like an idiot

[Gary_Yngve]

Bookstore contacts me regarding getting a room for a show.

They tell me that the author can do Jan 25 (through the publicist as the middleman). So I go to HUBRES, they tell me it's available, and I request a reservation.

 

I then tell the Bookstore that we're good, and the info gets relayed to the author.

 

Then I get an email from HUBRES that we don't have the spot -- it's taken. So I have to go through the chain again and tell them we don't have a room.

 

Then I go to HUBRES to complain. They tell me that it's their "policy" to have reservations be tentative because they might have had older reservations that have been sitting gathering dust and haven't been processed yet.

 

So I asked to reserve all evenings in the HUB for the two weeks around Jan 25 so that when I heard back from our speaker, I could have a guaranteed reservation and I could cancel the rest. They wouldn't let me do that.

 

So I tried to explain to them the concept of race conditions and mutual exclusion and suggested a protocol to them so they could do their job better. They really didn't like that.

 

Unfortunately, the University has a monopoly on room rentals, and they have no desire to make themselves more customer-friendly. And, there is nothing I can do about it to change it. Grrrrr.

[cracked]

Would you like some cheese or crackers with your whine?

[specialed]

Hit 'em with your purse. Works for me.

[max]

...the concept of race conditions and mutual exclusion...

 

?

maybe you could give me a ten second explanation

[KaskadskyjKozak]

...the concept of race conditions and mutual exclusion...

 

?

maybe you could give me a ten second explanation

 

geek talk

[willstrickland]

Gary dude, this is like a yearly affair with you getting major frustrations with scheduling stuff with the U.

 

Perhaps you need to make a clear statement that really speaks to the management. Something that really makes your frustration apparent and brings their shortcomings to light. I suggest eating a large mexican food special...maybe the one enchilada, one taco, one chili releno special (called the Speedy Gonzales at my local dive) , walking into their office, droppin' trou and squeezin out a Cleveland steamer on the receptionists desk. Double points if it has a runny consistency and splatters. Triple points if you pick up the nearest phone handset and wipe with it.

[rbw1966]

Post pictures.

[Gary_Yngve]

If I didn't have to keep using them, I'd consider fucking them over. But I do, so I can't.

 

This all wouldn't be bothering me as much if it weren't also compounded with the stress of dealing with Sandi at the IMA.

 

She's one of those bureaucrats who wants to do things the same way they've done things for the past 20 years because change requires work.

 

When I approach her and suggest that we do something racy, such as buy a new piece of gear for the club, she starts making up excuses and lies, and I have to disprove them one by one until she cannot think of any others.

 

"Why should we buy a big bouldering pad? We don't carry them now."

"That's because bouldering wasn't a hot sport 20 years ago."

"Aren't they dangerous?"

[This is the worst question, because I really want to answer it, "They're not any more dangerous than this piece of gear currently in the gearroom," but if I do that, we could lose that piece of gear...]

"Does REI rent bouldering pads?"

"No, but these other stores do."

"Send me the weblink for the bouldering pad."

"Here."

"I lost it. Send again."

"Here."

"We don't want this pad. You can't carry it like a backpack."

"It is designed to be carried on the back."

"Where can we buy it?"

"We can buy it online at the weblink I gave you."

"I can't use the University credit card online."

"Yes you can. In our dept, we use ours online all the time."

"Well, the gearroom is too messy now. You need to clean it up before I'll buy it. Work with Cory on that."

[When I forwarded this to Aaron, he was mightily offended, because he works the gearroom, and according to him, it's immaculate. He knows he's been the best worker at the gear room in the past few years.]

 

And she's firing Aaron, who's working in the gear room because he's doing his job too well and he listens to me.

That's right, the new person in the gearroom next quarter will be someone with less competence, and I can't find out who, because Sandi won't tell me. Maybe she's not telling me for a reason -- she knows she needs to brainwash them with the IMA Way before I have a chance to push my agenda.

[catbirdseat]

Dude, you need to tell her that bouldering pads make climbing SAFER. Tell her that the chance of injury will be greatly reduced and the University will be less exposed to LIABILITY. Safety first!

[Gary_Yngve]

Dude, you need to tell her that bouldering pads make climbing SAFER. Tell her that the chance of injury will be greatly reduced and the University will be less exposed to LIABILITY. Safety first!

 

You'd think that would work that way. As it is right now, if someone goes bouldering and hurts themselves, they cannot sue the university because they weren't on a Climbing Club trip.

 

But if they hurt themselves while using equipment owned by the university, all of a sudden the university is open to frivolous lawsuits.

 

 

The UWCC just received a donation of 10 avalanche beacons. We're renting them out for free to anyone on campus, not just UWCC members. It would be so convenient to have them in the gear room, where we actually have a place to store them and a budget for someone to check them out, but no, the IMA won't touch them with a stick-clip. So we have to store them in our desk drawers and handle all the logistics ourselves.

 

Then there's the fucking Daily. They could write incredible articles on the club, on Steve Swenson UW Alum, on EXTREEM things we're doing , on evalanches (and what the club is doing to make people safer)... but they're too busy writing lame articles on fashion and frat parties to care. I was talking to a gal last night who was a journalism major as one of her majors, and she said that they told her that she couldn't write for The Daily because she wrote too well.

[cracked]

 

[thelawgoddess]

gary, it will probably never get better there. you're just going to have to suck it up and deal. definitely understand your frustration, though!

[specialed]

You take your position as college climbing club president way too seriously. I recommend: Bong Hits.

[selkirk]

You take your position as college climbing club president way too seriously. I recommend: Bong Hits.

 

[scott_harpell]